From reducing air pollution to improving carbon footprints electric vehicles (EV’s) have taken the automotive world by storm.
In fact, the number of EV owners in NSW has doubled in the past year and even the State Government is pushing for EVs to account for over half of all new vehicle sales by 2030.
Why has there been such a push for EVs over the past decade and how green are they really?
Western Sydney University Senior Research Fellow, Doctor Tom Longden explained the difference between the three main types of EVs.
“There is the battery electric vehicle where you’ve got a battery in that vehicle that includes the hybrids which are charged off the braking mechanism,” Longden said.
“You can have a plug-in hybrid which is a petrol vehicle with a battery that you need to charge through a plug where it acts like an improvement in efficiency.
“Then you’ve got the full electric vehicle.”
EVs rely on electricity to operate instead of burning petrol or diesel, having a greener impact from the first drive.
“For any fossil fuel vehicle, we are importing most of that oil-based fuel into the country and when you use your car, most people don’t realise, but you are actually burning that fuel and you’ve got air pollution and co2 emissions that happen from that,” Longden said.
“It’s the one thing a lot of people forget is that what comes out of the exhaust is dirty whereas for an electric vehicle it’s the source of the electricity that matters.”
While manufacturing an EV does create a carbon footprint it is inherently easier to make up for than a petrol or diesel vehicle.
“It only takes a couple of years for an EV to be considered greener than a petrol vehicle because while you might have a more intense manufacturing process with a bit more of a carbon footprint up front, you don’t have those emissions happening year in and year out,” Longden said.
One of the major driving factors behind people purchasing EVs, particularly in outer suburbs like Penrith, is the rising cost of fuel.
“People are quite mindful that they don’t want to go to a petrol station,” Longden said.
“That’s one of the interesting things is that when people are weighing up the type of vehicle they would like, the style and everything like that they also think that if I pay a bit more up front I’ll save on the cost of running the vehicle over time,” Longden explained.
Similarly, The Electric Vehicle Council’s 2024 State of Electric Vehicles report indicated that those living in regional areas would save a significant amount of money switching to an EV vehicle.
“The average Australian drives around 40 kilometres per day, however, those living in outer suburbs or regional areas drive even greater distances and stand to save much more from the switch to EVs due to their lower running costs,” the report said.

Emily Chate
Emily Chate joined The Western Weekender in 2024, and covers local news - primarily courts and politics. A graduate of the University of Wollongong, Emily has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and worked as a freelance journalist.